Some children in rural Co Fermanagh have been missing from school and being late as a result of school bus disruption which has lasted more than six weeks.
Bus services in the Kinawley, Derrylin and Teemore areas have been disrupted due to a worker’s strike in recent weeks, but issues have persisted across the area for many months.
However, local parents say services have been an issue long before the beginning of the pandemic.
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Some families are also saying it is having a financial impact on them during the cost of living crisis as they have to take time out of work to collect children at unsuitable times.
Sinead McCaffrey and husband John’s son attends St Mary’s PS in Teemore, and have described it as a ‘nightmare’.
“We are in an awful dilemma here with no buses, it’s a nightmare,” Sinead told MyFermanagh.
“Mothers are having to go into work an hour late some mornings and leave 2 hours early to pick up kids.
“It's a disgrace after five or six weeks that we are no further on.”
John says there has been no progress in getting the school bus service up and running again.
“With the cost of everything at the present time within family living, it’s a big blow to the families have to take time out of their day to make up these trips.
“There are local bus drivers available and we need to ask the question as to why they are not being used.”
Local teacher and councillor for the area Chris McCaffrey says some students have been absent and late from school as a result of the issue, and that it comes as a result of a deliberate ‘downgrading’ of the service.
“There has been a complete downgrading of services that has been going on definitely from before Covid, especially in rural areas,” Cllr McCaffrey said.
“It seems to have unfairly impacted our rural area than other parts of Fermanagh or other parts of the North.
“It seems that at an executive level the Education Authority isn’t functioning as it should, or there has been a deliberate attempt to downgrade the service to rural dwellers in Fermanagh.
“There is a serious issue of drivers not being replaced when absent.
“It’s a service that the children are entitled to and it is impacting on their performance at school with some of them now being absent from school or else being late due to having to walk to school or even taking lifts as and when they can.”
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A spokesperson for the Education Authority apologised for the delay in reinstating the services to the area, and said it was 'regretful' that they have been going on for so long.
“We are continuing to implement a range of contingency measures in order to minimise the disruption to families, as we recognise the impact this has on their day," the spokesperson said.
"We apologise to families and pupils affected due to the cancellation of routes at short notice, and we are regretful that these issues have been ongoing for a prolonged period of time.
"While 98 per cent of our transport services continued to operate throughout the pandemic, unfortunately some have been affected due to the cumulative effect of absence, industrial action, and a UK-wide shortage of drivers.
"To address the issues in the short term, we have taken a number of measures. These include redeploying staff where appropriate, using the relief driver register, and making a renewed call to private operators to identify additional capacity.
"However, given the scale and number of issues impacting on driver availability means it has not always been possible to provide alternative services at short notice.
"We have also undertaken a series of recruitment campaigns for drivers and relief drivers. While there has been a positive response it remains challenging for us and other transport operators to recruit in rural areas.
"We would ask families to keep checking our website for further information on service disruption and be assured that we are working hard to find a sustainable solution for the transport issues across the region, including in rural areas.”
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